THE FEELING OF TSUNAMI
Written by Siti Nadhirah

    What comes in your mind when you hear or read about tsunami? Most of the people said that tsunami is devastating. You are not sure whether you will come out alive or not after the great disaster. It is a miracle if you are still alive breathing. The question is, what about the people who always experience tsunami in their country? For an example, Japan. Here are some of the emotions and feelings of who experienced tsunami, in particular part of Japan.
    One of the impact faced by the victims is emotional shock. Their brain nearly shut down as they cannot think wisely. The only thing to do is escape from the nightmare. It took months and years for them to recover the shock.
   In addition, night time is the worse. For so many reason, night time is the most frightening of all. First of all, it is dark and their eyesight are limited. All they hear is the sound of waves rushing to the beaches. And that is the scariest thing of all. They wonder if large wave is coming. Secondly, it might be power loss as the electric cable has been destroyed. It’s really hard for people in this age to move work without electricity.
    Besides, they also fear about electrical appliances. After a tsunami hits, the power is out. The electrical cables and wires are hanging everywhere. Maybe one of those wires will be live. They wonder how to shut off one of those wires. What happens if one of those wires are touching water, than happens to be connected to a puddle that they are standing in. And so, they nearly feel paralyzed about walking around, for fear that any move you make will electrocute them.
    Other than that, they feel nervous to see the survivor lists. This is the first thing they would like to find out. They become desperate to know about the people that are missing. They just hope - pray - that they are somewhere else. What do you feel if none of our family are not listed? That time will determine the breaking point of a person.
    Moreover, the sadness for the young and the old can be seen in their faces. They look around, and realize that there are not many young but many old. This is because they are gone. They didn't make it.
    Within 24 hours, something bad begins to happen. Decay starts to set in. It comes from decaying plant life that has washed ashore. It comes from fishes from the sea that were swept in with the wave, but not taken away on the return to the sea. It comes from rotting food. As they walk by piles of debris, a strong smell would come from beneath. They walked on quickly, fearing what might really be under those debris.
    Those are only a few of the emotions that people feel in the hours after a tsunami. They are real memories. For Japan, the culture of organization and preparation adds to the complexity. In a culture where everything is so prepared and organized and calm, I am sure things are even stronger than ever.